Overall: 🐢🐢🐢🐢
Storyline:
Writing Style:
Character Development:
World-building:
“The scales glitter in a shimmering array of pinks and blues and greens in the sunlight. From here, he’s all beauty. It’s only up close that you see the danger.”
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
The Story:
A curse doomed to repeat itself. The monster comes out kills any and all, at the end every time.
A kingdom being destroyed. With no royalty to govern, the kingdom is falling to chaos and being captured by another crown.
Responsibilities falls on the shoulders of Prince Rhen of Emberfall to break the curse that has been plaguing his kingdom for five years. He thought it was easy enough to get one girl to fall in love with him. How wrong he was. The curse has started over already and Harper has entered his life far from willing this season. But the tides of changed for the prince, it is the final time for him to creak the curse or face the consequences. How could he possibly get a woman so full of distrust and anger to fall for him in three months?
Harper must be loosing it. One moment she is on the streets of Washington DC attempting to save a stranger and next she is in a castle with no cell service, a man with swords and knives, and another who calls himself a prince. A prince!? And one who talks about curses and monsters on top of that! She just wants to go back home to her mom and brother. But as time goes by, Harper begins to see that here is more at stake here than just what she wants. A kingdom and it’s people are in trouble and she wont just sit by and watch them get hurt.
Key Elements:
Fiction, Young Adult, Magic, Adventure, Fantasy, Retellings,
Others in the Series:
Book 2: A Heart So Fierce and Broken
Book 3: A Vow So Bold and Deadly
Why This Rating?
Alright, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. This was another start of the series I kept seeing all over the place. People were constantly saying how good it was and I figured it was about time for me to jump onto the bandwagon and give it a shot. You guys, I really liked this book! And the fact that it is a trilogy made me really happy. It isn’t a super long series that you are committing yourself to start with, which is nice. Also, all the books are out so there isn’t any waiting or will at least they will all be by January 26th, 2021 (that’s when the third book is released).
One of the reasons I enjoyed this book was the Beauty and the Beast retelling aspect the story had. I swear I have a type when it comes to retellings. We have the usual situation where one of the individuals are cursed and the other character has to come in and help break the curse. I just love reading about the new and interesting ways each author recreates this archetype. Brigid Kemmerer did a wonderful job at making this her own story. For starters, our ‘beauty’ already knows that you must fall in love in order to break the curse, which is a really refreshing change of pace. All the cards are laid on the table in the very beginning so no one can be confused or manipulated into something. It also helps that Harper is from our actual world and time and she knows about fairytales and how they work, whereas, Rhen and Grey are from a different world (kind of) and her figuring it out blew their minds. Especially so quickly! I got a good laugh at that moment.
I completely respect the way that Kemmerer treated Harper throughout the entire story with cerebral palsy. Harper is always confident with how she is and what she does regardless of the disorder she was born with. She is quick to toss reminders at people to teach her to work around it and stop babying her because she was born this way. She has made it this far in life just fine. The embracing of her body and the confidence she carries as a person is inspiring. In most stories, we get these perfect people with very little afflicting them. Kemmerer has given us a story to prove that just because you have a disorder that you were born with or gained throughout you life, you can be a strong individual in your own story too.
I am looking forward to the second book and plan to start reading the soon – hopefully. So much happened really fast at the end of the story and I am curious to see how the next one will play out. I know that the second one will be through Grey’s POV which is going to be crazy! You’ve got to read it to figure out why. And since the third book is due out at the end of the month, might as well get all caught up so I can finish out the series!
Time to get lost in the next story!
Can’t wait to read it,,Love you gobbs grammie